The Glaciers Are Melting

A glaciologist at the University of Iceland says that glaciers across the Nordic countries are melting, with Iceland’s growing a metre thinner each year.RÚV reports that a new report shows that glaciers across Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard and the rest of Scandinavia appear to be melting and growing thinner. Helgi Björnsson, a glaciologist at the University of Iceland, says that Greenland’s glaciers have been moving out to sea at an accelerating rate, which indicates increased melting. Their speed, in fact, has doubled over the past ten to twenty years. Iceland’s glaciers are no exception, either. By Helgi’s estimates, since 1990 the glaciers are losing about 9.5 cubic kilometres of ice each year. However, Helgi emphasises that climate change is not the only culprit: volcanic ash falling on the glaciers can also speed up the melting process. However, the fact that glaciers are melting across the Nordic region does indicate causes beyond volcanic ash.